Billionaire Elon Musk is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over his $44 billion takeover of social media giant Twitter, based on a Thursday court filing wherein the agency sought to compel Musk to testify.
The investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in connection along with his 2022 purchases of stock in Twitter, which Musk renamed X, in addition to statements and SEC filings he made in relation to the deal.
The SEC said it subpoenaed Musk in May 2023 requiring him to supply testimony on the SEC’s San Francisco office, and that Musk had agreed to look last month. But then two days beforehand Musk raised “several spurious objections” and told the SEC he wouldn’t appear, the SEC said. Musk also refused to SEC proposals to conduct the deposition in Texas in October or November.
Amongst his objections was that the SEC was attempting to “harass” him and that his counsel needed time to review potentially relevant material contained in a biography of Musk published last month, the SEC said.
The SEC’s investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in connection along with his 2022 purchases of stock in Twitter.AP
“The SEC has already taken Mr. Musk’s testimony multiple times on this misguided investigation – enough is enough,” said an announcement from Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment beyond the general public filings.
Musk acquired Twitter last 12 months after initially constructing a big minority stake within the social media platform, which he allegedly didn’t disclose in a timely manner.
Musk allegedly didn’t disclose his stake in Twitter in a timely manner.AP
In an announcement, the SEC said it was searching for “Musk’s testimony to acquire information not already within the SEC’s possession that’s relevant to its legitimate and lawful investigation.”
Musk and the SEC have a long-running feud that dates back to Musk’s 2018 tweet that he planned to take his electric carmaker Tesla private and had funding secured.
“A comprehensive overhaul of those agencies is sorely needed, together with a commission to take punitive motion against those individuals who’ve abused their regulatory power for private and political gains,” Musk said in a post on X.
